Albert Memmi’s Multitudes

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In Memory of Rosa Asser, A”H, the Mother of Solomon “Sonny” Asser, an ASF Advisory Board Member and President of the American Friends of the Jewish Museum of Greece. Within the Jewish Museum of Greece’s family, “she was better known as Rozina Pardo, the hidden child of the Occupation, who shared her childhood odyssey with courage and strength, as many times as she was asked, with the museum audience, with the teachers in the annual seminars of the JMG, with pupils and students, tirelessly serving the memory and education on the Holocaust, in her own unique way. With the support of her original childhood diary, kindly donated to the JMG, her story, which was first presented with another 15, in the exhibition ‘Hidden Children in Occupied Greece’ in 2003, along with her active, dynamic speech, inspired many with the values of life, dignity, respect and solidarity. A film, interviews, speeches and presentations in Greece and abroad, made her a worthy voice, widely heard for years, ably representing all those who were violently silenced by the Holocaust.” She “made an important contribution to, and the understanding of, 20th century Jewish and Sephardic/Greek Jewish history.” With “my deep felt sympathy and condolences” ~David E.R. Dangoor, President, The American Sephardi Federation.

Click here to dedicate a future issue in honor or memory of a loved one.

28 July 2020

The Monthly Sage ◊ Feature ◊ Sephardi Gifts ◊ Upcoming Events ◊ Donate ◊ A rchive

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Sephardi Ideas Monthly is a continuing series of essays and interviews from the rich, multi-dimensional world of Sephardi thought that is delivered to your inbox every month.

This month’s issue of Sephardi Ideas Monthly celebrates the thought and writings of the 20th century Tunisian-French Sephardic Jewish intellectual, Albert Memmi (1920-2020), recipient of the ASF’s Pomegranate Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 22nd New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival. Memmi passed away on May 22nd.

Albert Memmi’s oeuvre was sufficiently large to defy any easy summary, so we’re providing a more comprehensive perspective by introducing our readers to two essays, Regina Keil-Sagawe’s, “Adieu, Albert!” (translated from the German by Nina Coon) and Jonathan Judaken’s, “The Heresies of Albert Memmi.” Regina Keil-Sagawe is a translator and publicist whose work focuses on North Africa (and who counted Memmi as a close friend), while Jonathan Judaken is the Spence L. Wilson Chair in the Humanities at Rhodes College.

Albert Memmi (1982)
(Photo courtesy of Claude Truong-Ngoc/Wikipedia)

Albert Memmi’s Multitudes

Growing-up in a poor Jewish quarter of the mostly Arab-Muslim city of Tunis, Albert Memmi received his secondary education at the Alliance israélite Universelle. He thus began life as a Jew among Arab Muslims, a child from a poor family among the bourgeoisie, and a student of modern French culture among his tradition-bound family and community. Memmi then transformed this plurality of perspectives on power, identity, and modernity to sources of insight throughout his career. As Keil-Sagawe’s writes, Memmi, “got the measure of the entire twentieth century with its identitarian strife, wars and colonial conflicts, repression and imbalances of power.” And as Memmi shared in his 1953 autobiographical novel, The Pillar of Salt (which was originally published with an introduction by no less than Albert Camus):

I will always rediscover myself as [… n]ative of a colonial country, a Jew in an anti-Semitic universe, an African in a world dominated by Europe[ ….] How can a synthesis arise from so many contradictions?

Memmi never reached any great synthesis, but his thoughts on those contradictions and tensions proved to be especially insightful, tough-minded, and singularly independent. And, as Keil-Sagawe notes, “his analyses were not always well-received.” For instance:

When, in Portrait du Decolonisé (2004), he read the riot act to the rulers of the post-colonial era and – half a century after independence – blamed them and not the former colonial rulers for corruption, poverty and totalitarianism, he seriously ruffled some feathers.

Judaken, for his part, remembers Memmi as “one of the most insightful commentators on racism.” Recounting in rapid-fire detail the various stations of the personal and professional journey that led Memmi to literary fame, Judaken also notes how Memmi’s judgments regarding the mechanics of “privilege” remained blessedly free of ideological constraints:

[P]rivilege is never absolute, Memmi believed. Instead, privilege is relative to “the pyramid of petty tyrants,” as Memmi calls it, whereby “each one, being socially oppressed by one more powerful than he, always finds a less powerful one on whom to lean, and becomes a tyrant in his turn.”

Read Regina Keil-Sagawe’s, “Adieu, Albert!”

Memmi’s tough-minded, humanist perspective saved him, in turn, from the various pathologies of the 20th century, including anti-Zionism:

Unlike postcolonial theorists who have tended to treat Zionism as allied with colonialism, Memmi made a compelling case for aligning Zionism with anti-colonial nationalism, rather than empire.

Likewise:

In his essay, ‘What Is an Arab Jew,’ Memmi explains that most Jews in Arab lands were culturally Arabs: in their language, clothing, cooking, music, and daily habits. But a peaceful and unproblematic coexistence between Jews and Muslims is a myth, he insists—a narrative fostered mostly by Arab propagandists and European leftists.

Agree or disagree, Albert Memmi was always a source of independent thought and incisive commentary regarding some of the most emotionally charged issues of the 20th century, from racism and colonialism to Zionism and the political oppression that continues to plague much of the Arab-Muslim world. Sephardi Ideas Monthly is proud to celebrate Memmi’s career with two insightful essays, Regina Keil-Sagawe’s, “Adieu, Albert!” and Jonathan Judaken’s, “The Heresies of Albert Memmi.”

Jonathan Judaken’s, "The Heresies of Albert Memmi."

Feature: Rue Albert Memmi

The writer and sociologist Albert Memmi recieved the ASF 2019 Pomegranate Award for Lifetime Achievement. Born in Tunisia into a poor Jewish family, Memmi is a giant of Sephardi literature of French expression. His works include The Pillar of Salt, The Scorpion, Portrait of the Colonized, and numerous seminal sociological works.

The Monthly Sage החכם החודשי

Hakham Rabbi Yitzhak Nissim

Hakham Rabbi Yitzhak Nissim (1896-1981)
(Photo courtesy of Moshe Pridan - National Photo Collection of Israel/Wikipedia), 4 October 1958

The sage for the month of July is Hakham Rabbi Yitzhak Nissim (1896-1981).

Born in Baghdad in 1896 on the first night of Hanukkah, Yitzhak Nissim made Aliyah to the Land of Israel with his family in 1908. He returned to Baghdad eight years later, where he studied and married his wife, Victoria. The couple returned to Israel in 1925, this time to stay.

In Israel, Hakham R’Yitzhak and Victoria's home became a well-known meeting place for scholars. R’Yitzhak became famous for the broad scope of his vision and his general knowledge, and his opinion was sought on halakhic issues and matters of community leadership. In addition, R’ Yitzhak’s possessed a large library of books and original manuscripts that became famous throughout the pre-state community.

In 1955, HaKham R’Yitzhak was appointed Rishon LeZion, the Chief Sephardi Rabbi of Israel, a position that he held until 1973. Among his most famous rulings was his decision that the Indian Bene Israel community were, indeed, Jewish. Likewise, in 1964, when Pope Paul VI visited Israel but refused to visit Israel’s Chief Rabbis in their office, Hakham R’Yitzhak famously boycotted the visit, insisting instead that the Pope must honor the dignity of the state of Israel and its institutions.

In 1981 (5741), on midday of Tish’a B’Ab, the date of the Temple’s destruction, Hakham R’Yitzhak passed away.

In the following section, composed following the Six Day War in 1967, Hakham R’Yitzhak argues that peace will only be achieved when the nation of Israel rebuilds and settles the holy city of Jerusalem. The passage characteristically combines Hakham R’Yitzhak’s proud religious Zionism with the dream of universal redemption.

The entire nation must liberate itself and apply its strength for the actualization of the historic meaning of redeeming the Land since the Six Day War. Jerusalem and much of the Land’s areas liberated a year ago, where there are more ruins than there are buildings and Jews are not a majority, have yet to be built. Jerusalem is the Eternal City, the City of Peace. Our Sages, in their holy inspiration, said that when the exiles gather in Jerusalem, peace will come to the nation and to the entire world. These are their words: The Holy One, blessed be He, will not console Jerusalem and the People of Israel, as it says, “And my nation will reside in a peaceful abode only in peace.” The time will come when all the world’s nations will also recognize the importance of building Jerusalem and gathering all her sons within her for eternal peace.

From LeDor Ule’Dorot, Part 1 – Articles and Speeches following the Six Day War, p. 38, Yad HaRav Nissim, 1973

Continue reading...

Sephardi Gifts:

The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Rescued Jews During the Holocaust (Holiday House)
by Karen Gray Ruelle & Deborah Durland DeSaix

Beautifully illustrated and thoroughly researched, this inspiring, non-fiction book introduces children to a little-known part of Sephardic Holocaust (Shoah) history: how Salim Halali and other North African Sephardim found refuge from the Nazis and the collaborationist Vichy Regime in an unlikely place—the sprawling complex of the Grand Mosque of Paris.

Histoire de l’Alliance Israelite Universelle de 1860 a Nos Jours
French Edition
By André Kaspi

In 1860, a few men of good will decided in Paris to found the Alliance Israélite Universelle. They wanted to defend the rights of Jews everywhere in the world. At the same time, their objective was to create, around the Mediterranean basin and in the Middle East, a vast network of French-speaking schools, to encourage the social and cultural rise of Jewish communities and to prepare for their emancipation.

American Sephardi Federation

Sephardi Ideas Monthly

Upcoming Events or Opportunities:

Yad Hazaka presents:

Facing and Fighting Prejudice

How Encountering Anti-Semitism Shaped our Approaches to Racism

Tuesday, 28 July

8:15PM EDT

Join with a Zoom ID: 987 9796 3580

Zoom Panel Discussion
(No registration required)

Featured speakers:

Rena Nasar First, StandWithUs, Executive Director, Campus Affairs
Hindy Poupko, UJA, Deputy Chief, Planning Officer
Jason Guberman, American Sephardi Federation, Executive Director
Rabbi Dr. Richard Hidary, Yeshiva University, Professor

Congregation Shearith Israel and the
American Sephardi Federation present:

Tisha B’Ab Services

Live-stream from the Shearith Israel (The Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue of New York)

Wednesday, 29 July
8:30PM EDT
Fast of Ab services, followed by a special lecture by Rabbi Meir Soloveichik

Sign-up Now!

(Complimentary YouTube Live)

Thursday, 30 July
10:00AM EDT
The morning service of Tisha b’Ab in the Western Sephardic tradition (kinot)

Sign-up Now!

(Complimentary RSVP)

The morning service of Tisha b’Ab in the Western Sephardic tradition includes more than 25 different elegies (kinot). These are sung to an amazing variety of beautiful and moving melodies. The kinot will be performed live via Zoom by both hazzanim and laymen from Shearith Israel, and special guest hazzanim from London and Israel. The service is expected to last about 1.5 hours. Join us for this rare opportunity to hear the kinot sung according to their traditional melodies. This service is dedicated to the memory of Mr. Richard Schulz, עליו השלום, whose expert reading of these kinot will be sorely missed.

The Fast of Ab services as conducted at Shearith Israel (The Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue of New York) are uniquely dramatic and moving. The service is conducted in a darkened sanctuary. The traditional Western Sephardic melodies chanted for the Book of Lamentations and for the Kinot (elegies) are incredibly beautiful and emotionally moving. In most years large crowds fill the room for an experience that is unlike any other. This year, with the help of the American Sephardi Federation, Shearith Israel’s Fast of Ab services, together with a special lecture by Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, will be presented via live-stream from the sanctuary. Although there will not be large crowds of people inside the synagogue this year, we hope you will be able to experience a small degree of the unique beauty and drama of this special service.

Bendigamos and the ASF Institute of Jewish Experience present:

Western (Spanish & Portuguese)

Sephardi Tisha B’Av Kinot & Readings

Live-stream from Israel, Netherlands, and United Kingdom

Thursday, 30 July
4AM NY | 9AM London | 10AM Amsterdam | 11AM Jerusalem

Sign-up Now!

(Complimentary)

In the tradition of the Global Nação’s Azharot, Bendigamos and the ASF Institute of Jewish Experience present:

Chazan Eliot Alderman (London)
Rabbi Jonathan Cohen (Netivot)
Rabbi Shalom Morris (London)
Chazan Dr. Peter Nahon (Bordeaux/Paris)
Rabbi Natan Peres (Jerusalem)
Chazan Nachshon Rodrigues Pereira (Amsterdam)
Elad Zigler (Jerusalem)

Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust and the
American Sephardi Federation present:

Children of the Inquisition

Film and Discussion

Thursday, 30 July at 2PM EDT

Sign-up Now!

Children of the Inquisition follows a diverse group of descendants of the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions as they unravel their complex and often hidden Jewish identity. Each is on a personal quest to discover and explore his or her distant Sephardic roots.

Panelists include Joe Lovett, Doreen Carvahal, Professor David Gitlitz, ASF Executive Director Jason Guberman, Keith Stokes, and Carlos deMeideros.

The Axelrod Performing Arts Center and CHAI FLICKS present:

The 11th Annual Axelrod Israel Jewish Film Festival

Featuring 10 North American and regional premieres of award-winning films!

Sunday, 19 July - Thursday, 13 August
Stream on All Devices, Including Your SmartTV

Sign-up Now!

The Axelrod Israel Jewish Online Film Festival Includes:

10 Award-Winning Films
(Ticketholders will be emailed information on each film,
as well as how and when to view it)

Zoom Talk-Backs

Under the Stars Movie Event
(Planned Pending Approvals)

30 Days CHAI FLICKS Streaming on all devices

Check back soon for the APAC Israel Jewish Film Festival's collaboration with the ASF's New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

The Greek Experience

Explore the world of Greek Jewry from the ancient Romaniote to the Sephardim and others who made it to and through Greece.

An online course presented in 10 minute episodes.
Learn at your own pace.

Please sign-up now!

Total cost of the course is $75.00

Jews have been in Greece since before the Temple was destroyed. They were in Greece upon the founding of the Greek Orthodox Church. Community members, known as Romaniote, made their way through Venice, Byzantium, Spain, across the Ottoman Empire, and beyond.

Dr. Yitzchak Kerem provides an overview of the unique languages, liturgical nuances, and communal life of Jews across Greece. Dr Kerem spent significant time living in Greece and researching Greek and Sephardic history. Photographs, maps, and personal accounts provide course participants with a full picture of the unique nature of the Jews of Greece and its surroundings.

In the course, participants will look at major influential points in Greek Jewish history. They will explore The Golden Age of Salonika, a time when Greece’s northern city was a hub of Jewish scholarship. Kerem introduces the tension arising in the Greek Jewish community because of Shabtai Tzvi and the Sabbateanism movement that brought with it false messianism and conversion to Islam, at least outwardly.

The course looks at when the Alliance Israélite Universelle moved in and the Sephardic culture in Greece developed a rich secular culture with its own novels, theater, and music.

This is part of the greater Jewish heritage and history that is often overlooked. ASF IJE online courses will bring to life all parts of the greater Jewish Experience.

For more information and other ASF IJE online course offerings visit: https://courses.instituteofjewishexperience.org/

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

The Crypto Experience

The Global History of Secret Jews

An online course presented in 10 minute episodes.
Learn at your own pace.

Please sign-up now!

Total cost of the course is $75.00

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience is proud to present “The Crypto Experience,” an online course on Crypto-Jews. It is part of a series of online courses on a variety of topics that make up the robust Jewish experience.

For hundreds of years there have been descendants of Crpto-Jews, who have covertly kept some of their traditions while maintaining a very different public persona. It is a question of identity, be it Huegenot, Catholic, Sephardi, or Mashadi. Professing one faith on the outside and another on the inside speaks to our quest for defining identity today.

These questions of identity that we think are so new and so relevant are really rather old questions under different circumstances. In this course Dr. Hilda Nissimi (Bar Ilan University) presents an overview of crypto societies historically and in the context of today. She challenges the participants to ask themselves difficult questions like: What defines identity? If I project this outer self, how do I keep my real me? Who is the real me? Am I the me before the expression of an outer facade? Is it a new me?

The course discusses these questions as they pertain to Jews, specifically. What does it mean to be a Jew? What do I have to keep if I want to call myself a Jew? Am I allowed to change? Am I the person to decide? Who will decide? How can anyone decide under such circumstances?

In order to understand this in historic and cultural contexts, world-renowned scholars and experts in the field have joined Dr. Nissimi and will be presenting the challenges facing a range of crypto societies:

Huegenots – Dr. Hilda Nissimi
Spanish-Portuguese Crypto Society – Dr. Ronnie Perelis (Yeshiva University)
Bildi’in of Morocco – Professor Paul Fenton (Sorbonne Université, Paris)
Mashhadi Jews of Iran – Dr. Hilda Nissimi
Tracing Jewish Roots – Genie and Michael Milgrom
Growing Up Mashhadi– Reuben Ebrahimoff

For more information and other ASF IJE online course offerings visit: https://courses.instituteofjewishexperience.org/

Donate now and your generous tax-deductible contribution will empower the ASF to fight for Jewish unity and champion the Sephardi voice in Jewish communal affairs at home and abroad, as well as in our programs, publications, and projects.

Copyright © 2020 American Sephardi Federation, All rights reserved.

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American Sephardi Federation | http://www.AmericanSephardi.org | info@americansephardi.org | (212) 294-8350

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